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Humboldt’s Gift (1975) represents a distinct change in
tone and focus from Mr. Sammler’s Planet which preceded it.
It is a comic novel that portrays the spiritual plight of Charlie
Citrine, a Chicagoan with a taste for low pursuits, gangland
excitement, pneumatic young women, and a poetic gift he has almost
lost. This “Chicago condition”, which has destroyed his poet
friend, Humboldt, engages Charlie in the same kind of dialectal
contest fought by Joseph and Tu As Raison Aussi in
Dangling Man; or, Tommy and Tamkin in Seize the Day,
or Henderson and the lioness in Henderson the Rain King, and
by Herzog and the modern philosophers in Herzog. On the
surface it is a serious …

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4618Humboldt's Gift3Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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